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"What lies before us and what lies behind us are but tiny matters compared to what lies within us."Ralph Waldo Emersom

Copyright Information

All images on this blog are copyright by Stampin' Up! or their perspective companies and may not be reproduced. In other words, please don't copy or reproduce the pictures or posts you see here unless written permission is given by me or the perspective company. Thank you for your cooperation and for visiting my blog.Lorraine Castellon-Rowe

2/26/09

Isn't this just so festive?!? I love the bright colors for a birthday card. Well, when I saw a similar (almost exact) same card on Amy Rysavy's blog I fell in love with it! I had to copy it! Here's my version. To see Amy's version you can click her name above.Hope you're having a wonderful day!Lorraine

2/21/09

As soon as I saw our new Sweet Slumber Specialty Paper with the clouds I knew what I had to do...make a kite of course!! This kite was super simple to make. Cut 1 - 1" square and 1 - 1" x 2" rectangle. Cut them both diagonally, corner to corner. Flip one piece of each over (using double sided paper) and piece together. See...super simple. I cut another little square to glue to the back of the kite to hold all the pieces together before I mounted it.I hope it's nice where you are so you can go out and fly a kite today!!Thanks for coming to see me.Lorraine

2/20/09

Here's a little slider card I made tonight. I was thinking of different ways to use my Bag with Scallops Die with my Big Shot. This is what I came up with. I just cut the part of the die with the scallop so I had a rectangle with a scallop at the end. I created a slider underneath the top layer on the card. Check back in a couple of days and I'll have a tutorial for you. It's a little late right now and I need to hit the hay but I wanted to show you how versatile our Big Shot and dies are. You don't have to use them for what they were created for, you can use parts of them to create your own personal shapes.

As always, I am so happy you dropped in to see me and I hope I am posting interesting things so you come back again soon.Lorraine

2/18/09

How about a little Easter card? I've used the Loads of Love and Fun & Fast Notes stamp sets. I water colored the truck with Pixie Pink and Basic Black with my Aquapainter. Used my Versamark Pen to emboss the bumpers, lights and door handle in Silver. Then punched out some eggs using my Small Oval Punch using the Tea Party DSP. The little Chick driving is from Fun & Fast Notes and I colored her with Apricot Appeal and Only Orange then cut her out. I used two of the flowers from our Pretties Kit and water colored the larger one with Pixie Pink. The button and brads are Soft Subtles and the ribbon is our 1 1/4 Pink Grosgrain Ribbon. I also used some embroidering floss for the center of the button. The background DSP is Tea Party and the card base is Pixie Pink.As always, I sincerely appreciate you stopping by to see me. I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!Lorraine

2/17/09

Happy Tuesday! I sure hope you are somewhere warm and dry. It's been raining here for 3 days straight here. I really can't complain though, at least we don't have snow. As much as I love the snow I am thankful we don't live in in a place where we have to shovel it. It's nice to drive to the mountains to ski and play in the snow but it's also nice to be able to drive home to our warm home with no snow. Ok, enough of that. I'm sure you came here to see this card. It's a bright, springy, flowery card. Just what I needed to bring a little bright into our dark, rainy days. Everything I used is Stampin' Up!. There are no stamps on this card, only Sizzlits and Embosslits that work with our Big Shot. The colors are Summer Sun, Only Orange, Real Red and Green Galore. The DSP is Pink Flamingo. The dies used are Swirls Scribbles and Birds & Blooms Sizzlits, and the Cherry Blossom and Flower Burst Embosslits. I did use the Bold Brights Brads for some of the flower centers and Dimensionals to give the flowers depth. That's it. It is a very simple card to make and can be used for any occasion, Birthday, Mother's Day, Happy Spring, Thinking of You, Thank you, etc., etc. I hope you like it and I thank you for dropping by to visit me today!

2/15/09

I made these 2 cards for the 2 loves of my life...my wonderful Husband and my little man (my amazing son). They're pretty simple and use our new Heart to Heart Punch and our Full Heart Punch. Lot's of DSP, some SU! and some not.I wanted to wait until after Valentine's Day to post these pics because my DH likes to browse my blog and I didn't want him to see them. (hi my love)I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day and got to spend it with those you love.To my readers:Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here for me and always sending me such special, very appreciated, comments. It is because of you that I have this blog.Hugs,Lorraine

2/11/09

I made these post it note holders for my son's teachers. I got this awesome idea from Krista Driesen's blog http://www.krista-kris.blogspot.com. They were so easy to make. I got some acrylic frames from Tap Plastics, put Bella Rose and Raspberry Tart DSP into the frames, tied Real Red and Regal Rose 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon around the frame, added some flowers and I was done. Then I just inserted the same DSP into some pens and tied some 1/4" ribbon to them in the same colors and they're ready to go. I got the cute post it notes at Target.The Valentine's treats next were made using foam hearts I got at Wal Mart. I just sewed 2 together, added heart stickers (also from Wal Mart) put M&M's in some medium cellophane bags, tied ribbon around them and that's it. My son wrote "Love, Randy" on the backs of them all.I hope you have a Lovely Valentine's Day!Thanks for visiting me today!Lorraine

Here's a quick card I made the other Day. It uses our new stamp set called Just Surfing. When I saw this new set I just had to have it. It's perfect if you have a little boy or a big boy for that matter. All supplies are Stampin' Up! and include: Just Surfing and Itty Bitty Backgrounds stamp sets, Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red and Kiwi Kiss cardstock, Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point and Close to Cocoa Classic Pads, Hand Drawn Designer Series Paper (Hostess Item), Baja Breeze 1" Double Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon and Stampin' Dimensionals.I hope this helps you to think of warmer months ahead.Have a wonderful day!Lorraine

Now here's a little tip I've been doing for a long time now. When I first made this card I didn't like that the surfboards I stamped weren't solid stamped images. They looked like I hadn't inked up my stamp enough. So I got out my trusty sanding blocks and just sanded the stamp. Now, don't go crazy sanding your stamps. You only need to sand in one direction (vertically) with a couple of strokes then sand the other direction (horizontally) with a couple of strokes. Sand just enough to get the whole stamp and not really hard. Light strokes will do just fine. Here's the card with the original stamped surfboards. Can you see the difference?

After posting this I got a note from Patty Bennett letting me know she's got a tutorial of this on her blog. Check it out at: http://www.pattystamps.com/

2/10/09

Just a quick note. I think I've figured out how to insert pictures here so that when you click on them they will open in another window at a larger size. Try it with the last posted picture. It should work. I'll try to do this with all future posts but don't get mad at me if it doesn't work. I'm still trying to figure out this new computer. :0)L

I've been wanting to use my It's a Loop Thing Bundle so I got it all out and here's what I came up with. This bundle is a Hostess Item. With a $500 workshop order or customer order you can get this bundle FREE!! The bundle comes with It's a Loop Thing Stamp set of 4, 2 Loop to Loop sheets of Rub Ons (one Chocolate Chip and one Whisper White) and 9 sheets of Double Sided Designer Series Paper (3 sheets each in 3 Designs). I love this stamp set and the paper is perfect for birthdays or any occasion. The rub ons are so versatile too! From birds & flowers to airplanes and cupcakes. I've also used Whisper White, Baja Breeze and Certainly Celery cardstock, Certainly Celery, Ruby Red & Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write Markers, Old Olive 5/8", Chocolate Chip 5/8" and Real Red 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon which is stapled to the card. I used the Curly Label Punch for the sentiment. The top of the cupcake has Dazzling Diamonds on it too. I hope you like what I've come up with.Thanks for checking in today. Happy Stampin'!Lorraine

2/9/09

Yes, it's another Red, Black and White card. I didn't start out wanting to use those colors it just happened. :0) This time I used the Love You Much stamp set with Real Red and Whisper White cardstock. Then I added the Rockabilly Specialty Designer Series Paper. I stamped the Hugs & Kisses circles with Real Red Classic Ink then punched them out with my 1 1/4" Circle Punch then layered it with the 1 3/8" Circle Punch. Then I punched the 2 hearts using my Full Heart Punch and stamped them with the Polka Dot Background Stamp and Versamark Ink then embossed them with Clear Embossing Powder. I layered the circles and hearts using Stampin' Dimensionals then tied Real Red 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon and Black Gingham Ribbon around the Whisper White layer.

2/8/09

I got the idea of using red, black and white from Joyce Cram when she brought her awesome make & take to our downline meeting. I had also seen a pretty card in the Cards Magazine created by Jennifer Hansen that I just had to case! I didn't have scalloped edge red cardstock so I created my own using our 1 1/4" Circle Punch. The flowers and sentiment are from our retired Love & Happiness rub ons. Then I stamped some images from the Itty Bitty Buds Hostess set.

I saw this awesome idea on Patty Bennett's blog, http://www.pattystamps.typepad.com/ and just knew I had to do this myself! I created Circle Templates from the New Circle Scissor Plus tool. These templates will help when deciding on which size circle I will need for a scrapbook page, a stamped image, a picture, layering and so much more. I've used my Xyron to laminate all of my templates and then I tied them together with ribbon. I could have used a binder ring but I wanted my templates to be able to lay flat over an image and the ribbon with help me do that. They are hanging right above my desk so I can grab and use them whenever I need them. You're brilliant Patty. Thank you for sharing this awesome idea.Edit to Add:I created my templates in 1.5" increments but with the Circle Scissor Plus you can cut circles at an infinite number of sizes. The tool also has centimeter marks. There's a dial on the tool that lets you create ANY size circle. I've also added my Punch circles. With this tool you can also DRAW ANY size circle.This idea would also be great for all of your punches. Just punch them out, laminate them and you can browse your Stampin' Up! catalog to see what images fit into which punch. Circle Scissor PlusMaking perfect circles has never been simpler! Use theCircle Scissor Plus to cut and draw circles with ease.Works best with the Glass Mat. Replacement bladesare sold separately in a package of 3.112530 Circle Scissor Plus $29.95112532 Replacement Blades $3.95

2/7/09

Here are the beautiful cards we all swapped at our last downline meeting. Scroll down to my card to see if you can figure out what's wrong with it. (Yes, I know I'm a dork!!) Then scroll down even more to see the card fixed.

Have a wonderful weekend and thank you so much for coming to see me today!

Lorraine

Created by Jennifer WuCreated by Joyce CramCreated by Edra JandroCreated by Rosemarrie GonzalezOk...This is my lovely card...DUH!! Can you figure out what's wrong with it before scrolling down to see the fixed card?Here's the card all fixed. I can't believe I made all those cards with the ampersand at the end of the word "Love". WHAT A SUPER DORK I AM!! Ladies, I am so sorry. If you bring your cards back to the next meeting I will fix them for you. By the way...did any of you notice the mistake??

2/5/09

We had a great time at our meeting last night. There were 6 of us at my downline meeting, the largest turnout so far...LOL!! I just love hanging out with these ladies. Not only are they so very talented but they are so much fun to be with! I love you guys!! Thanks for making me laugh every time you come over!

So here are the make & takes we all did. Each lady brought their cards and we each made one.

Design by Jennifer WuDesigh by Joyce CramDesign by Edra JandroDesign by Paula Simas (Paula couldn't make the meeting but she sent us her totally cute make & take. Thanks Paula!)Design by Rosmarrie GonzalezDesign by Linda ProvisDesign by me... :0)

2/2/09

These cards are stamped with the stamps I made using my Big Shot and left over rubber. The first one is straight stamping and the second one is made using Heat & Stick Powder and our awesome Fine Cosmo Glitter!

2/1/09

I've been seeing these cute little magazine holders all over the internet lately and just had to make one for myself. I was too lazy to find the instructions so I just winged it and came up with my own dimensions to fit my cards which are 3.5" x 5". The cardstock colors are Chocolate Chip, Old Olive and Whisper White. I also used the Versamark Stamp Pad and Clear Embossing Powder to emboss on the Chocolate Chip top and Chocolate Chip Classic Pad to stamp on the bottom Whisper White strip. The stamp is from the Baroque Motifs stamp set. All supplies are Stampin' Up!

You'll need 2 sheets of cardstock (2 different colors). For the bottom, cut a piece of card stock that measures 7" x 9". On the 9" side score at 2.5", 6.5". On the 7" side score at 2.5" and 4.5". On the 7" side cut your score lines up until they meet your vertical score line on both ends. You will have 2 flaps on each side of the center flap. Fold those in and glue making sure the center flap is on the outside of the box. I used Sticky Tape to be sure it didn't come apart.

For the top part of the File Holder you'll need a 5.5" x 10" piece of cardstock. On the 10" side score at 4" and 6". On the 5.5" side measure up 4" and mark with a pencil. Now cut at a diagonal from that pencil mark up to the score line on that side and then do the same on the other side.

That's it. I would suggest you decorate your pieces before they're assembled. If you want to make a band around the bottom like I did you'll need to add 1/16" to the measurements to allow for the folded pieces on the box.

WOW!! I sure hope this makes sense. I will try to draw up a template for you and add it later. My scanner isn't working right now so I might have to create this in Photoshop or Power Point. Just be patient with me and I'll do it as soon as I can.

Well, I hope you enjoyed seeing my Mini Magazine Holder and I hope you're having a wonderful day!